Facelifts headlights to a pre face lift

Grale1

Grale1

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Hi guy I have been thinking lately about putting face lift headlights on, now I've read that you need to do a little bit of modifying to the wings and also making a loom to fit existing wiring of the car to the face lift unit? I'm not very confident when it comes to wiring to be honest but I feel ok about modifying the inner wing if there no to much cutting involved?

What are people thoughts really? Any help would be greatly appreciated,

secondly, I'm thinking of doing the car up and stuck on ideas of what I can do, I'm going to get a k03s, fmic, Saab red top injectors, and exhaust over the next few months, but that about as far as I can think that the moment.

simon
 
Thanks mate that is a really good guide best one I've read and very clear on what needs to be done, ill be keeping an eye out for some units come pay day, like I've said its more the wiring I'm a little worried about but I'm sure I can do it, those hid kits, which one is the best to go for?
 
If you worried about wiring there are adapters you can buy so no need to wire anything
 
http://bit.ly/ZG5axi you can get it from there! There was a group buy from em tuning with hid kits but its ended now. Contact trups and see what he'll sell you?
 
£33 for a simple loom? Il be doing this headlight mod this week. Loom is only 4 wires to modify so wont take 5 mins! Il put up a guide to doing it if there is any interest?
 
It is fairly easy to do, it was an option for those who want to just plug n play
 
I know what you mean but £33! thats robbery for what it actually is lol
 
It's plug and play for s3's as the connectors are the same but a3's are different
 
Cheers guys, when ill get the headlights I will be using the guide that gops put up, find that good to follow to
 
I just want to point out that yesterday I fitted facelift lights however no where it seems to mention that the adjuster motors are a completely different size for some years? Mines a 1999 a3 and they don't screw into the facelift lights properly (they screw in about a quarter of the way before the motor hits the lights rear section of the light because its much bigger)

The motor on the left is the facelift one and other is my original 1999 one:
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365322146814975

As you can see the connectors are a different size also (sorry I've put the wrong sided adjuster motor in the photo but I'm on about the size of the socket anyway)
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365322221393216

To fix this and for other people's reference can anyone tell me the original facelift 3 pin adjuster motor connector part number thats fitted to the car loom?
The one below is my original 1999 one which is too big for the smaller motors so it looks like I need to solder some facelift connectors on which are smaller.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365322265237262
 
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Just did the facelift headlight conversion and its easy enough, luckily when I purchased the lights I asked for the plugs and a bit of loom so I could mate the plugs with the original loom and the headlight adjusters are completely different as mentioned above by Danno57. The plugs are easy to mate together as only 4 wires on the headlight loom and 3 on the adjusters. Most awkward part was cutting the wing but was easy enough - all in all about an hour all in.
 
Grale - where are you going to get some facelift's from as im also after a set for my pre facelift
 
2hotty said:
Just did the facelift headlight conversion and its easy enough, luckily when I purchased the lights I asked for the plugs and a bit of loom so I could mate the plugs with the original loom and the headlight adjusters are completely different as mentioned above by Danno57. The plugs are easy to mate together as only 4 wires on the headlight loom and 3 on the adjusters. Most awkward part was cutting the wing but was easy enough - all in all about an hour all in.
Click to expand...

I guess that's probably the easiest thing to do actually, how did you mate the car loom to the smaller adjusters? Did you cut off the large 3 pin socket and crimp some spade connectors on so you can disconnect it easily?

I was wanting the smaller 3 pin socket so it would be properly watertight but I guess electrical tape would do the job.

Also for anyone buying the lights, if going for original Hella ones like me (2nd hand obv) make sure they're not too badly oxidised, the ones I bought didn't look that bad in the photos but even headlight restoration kits won't bring them up as good as new, it's making me think of selling the originals I bought off ebay and getting some Depo ones just because they look completely new.
 
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For anyone else's reference I've found the headlight adjuster (range control) harness clip P/N 8L0 973 703, you also need the barbed wires:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365596746810571ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365596763225164

It came to £17 something.

You will need these unless you just want to DIY the car loom to the adjuster motors, but I wanted to keep it as oem as possible and properly watertight.

Dan
 
Please ignore my above post, I fitted the clips yesterday and turns out that the facelift adjusters will not work with the pre-facelift, either that or both of the ones that came with my facelift lights are bust which I find hard to believe. My dads a sparky and seems to think the circuit board isn't compatible with the dash switch / loom.

Anyway the whole point is that I managed to get the pre-facelift adjuster motors into the facelift light with a bit of force. The reason they wouldn't go is because you have to turn the manual adjusters and get it in the right place for them to slot in, so mine must've been way out.

I've also fitted those adjuster alloy clips that was mentioned on this forum as the crappy original ones break really easily, yes mine broke. (the ones the adjuster ball goes into) All is working now. 😁
 
I've just done my conversion on my s3. It was very simple and will post pics when I get a chance to upload them. My old headlight adjusters slotted right in! And I have to say the lights are damn bright!! Thanks to trups at EM tuning for the HID kit, they're as bright as the new audi's!
 
Danno, I fitted the facelift motors with the headlights to my pre-facelift car. Your both motors must have been broken.
 
Danno57 said:
I just want to point out that yesterday I fitted facelift lights however no where it seems to mention that the adjuster motors are a completely different size for some years? Mines a 1999 a3 and they don't screw into the facelift lights properly (they screw in about a quarter of the way before the motor hits the lights rear section of the light because its much bigger)

The motor on the left is the facelift one and other is my original 1999 one:
View attachment 13778

As you can see the connectors are a different size also (sorry I've put the wrong sided adjuster motor in the photo but I'm on about the size of the socket anyway)
View attachment 13779

To fix this and for other people's reference can anyone tell me the original facelift 3 pin adjuster motor connector part number thats fitted to the car loom?
The one below is my original 1999 one which is too big for the smaller motors so it looks like I need to solder some facelift connectors on which are smaller.

View attachment 13780
Click to expand...

Hi,

I managed to install my pre faclift motors(big one to the right) to my new facelift healights, by grinding of a bit on the lug, that connects the ball point on the motor. But the light is pointing strate down in the taremark, and it's not possible to manual adjust to normal level. (I had to max out the adjusters, to get the motor installed in the first place...)

Is this suppose to work? I'm I not getting the adjusment right, or is the light maybe faulty (it's new, but scond hand from privat seller)

Markboy in his tread:
A3 Facelift Headlamp Upgrade - Audifans.net

looks like he have fitted the big motors, in there...

Maybe different aftermarked healighs, have different layout...
 
ecudude said:
Hi,

I managed to install my pre faclift motors(big one to the right) to my new facelift healights, by grinding of a bit on the lug, that connects the ball point on the motor. But the light is pointing strate down in the taremark, and it's not possible to manual adjust to normal level. (I had to max out the adjusters, to get the motor installed in the first place...)

Is this suppose to work? I'm I not getting the adjusment right, or is the light maybe faulty (it's new, but scond hand from privat seller)

Markboy in his tread:
A3 Facelift Headlamp Upgrade - Audifans.net

looks like he have fitted the big motors, in there...

Maybe different aftermarked healighs, have different layout...
Click to expand...


I'm not really sure as the ones I bought are OEM Hella ones. What I did was made count of how many full turns I did on the manual adjusters (the allen key ones on the top of the headlight) to get the clip in the correct position for the ball joint to clip into.

Once I managed to get the motor in properly I just turned the manual adjusters back to the original position, I then tested the movement of them from the dashboard height switch and they worked perfectly. The adjusters need to work properly as it will be a failure on MOT. I am still going to have the garage do a proper headlight alignment though.
 
Mmm different on s3's. I bought some aftermarket headlights and i had to pull the headlights up to get the adjusters in. It wasn't hard at all.
 
If you don't mind me asking, where did you get your headlights from Gops?
I got the HID's in the group buy too but haven't got around to getting headlights yet, but I've been looking at the Depo lights as they're pretty cheap, I just don't know what they're like for fitment with not being genuine.
Cheers,
Callum.
 
Danno57 said:
I'm not really sure as the ones I bought are OEM Hella ones. What I did was made count of how many full turns I did on the manual adjusters (the allen key ones on the top of the headlight) to get the clip in the correct position for the ball joint to clip into.
Click to expand...

Danno57, seems there is a problem with one of the adjusters. Previous owner did some fixing on it, and now it will not retract enought to clip the motor on... I will have to get me a new unit.

Thanks for the support :)
 
I bought mine from eBay for £80. The only fitment issue I had was that the 3rd bolt hole isn't located where the indicator is so you can only use the two at the top. I did that and had no problem at all. I think mine were TYC as they don't say depo on them at all but everything works and looks fab!
 
CMcKenzie said:
If you don't mind me asking, where did you get your headlights from Gops?
I got the HID's in the group buy too but haven't got around to getting headlights yet, but I've been looking at the Depo lights as they're pretty cheap, I just don't know what they're like for fitment with not being genuine.
Cheers,
Callum.
Click to expand...

Maybe he's bodged the adjuster screw thread with glue and you can't adjust it any further?

On another point, I restored my Hella headlight lenses yesterday after about 2 hours of wet n drying, (mine were in really badly oxidized) But here's what I did:

1. 600 Grit wet n dry for about 15 mins keeping as wet as possible in a side to side motion, regularly changing the paper.

2. 10 mins on 1000 grit wet n dry paper

3. 20 mins on 2000 grit wet n dry paper

4. Then hand rubbing with a good cut rubbing compound.

Now they look like new! I'll get pics later.


I always say go for genuine lights, aftermarket ones can sometimes be a nightmare and my last ones weren't designed well enough for ventilation / condensation.
 
I'm in the process off doing this today, how can you adapt the fre face lift loom to make the lights work as there is a 5th wire that that makes the high beam work that not on the facelift lights as being a different bulb
 
Use a multimeter or test bulb on the cars loom and check operation on flashing main beam. Then wire this into the correct wire on the lamp unit.
 
I don't have a multi meter so I might have to just try the wires o. The bulb and see what operates the high beam
 
It's started to rain so gave up lol, I think I will just buy the adapter for it then its will be plug and play, I'm not good with electrics so it will be easier
 
Does anybody know if I bought the adapters for the headlights if it would make the full beam work? I don't really want to cut any wires
 
Never tried it but it should work. Worth a try. Did you not follow the thread posted earlier?
 
I'm not to sure I wanted to cut any wires tbh, haven't looked at doing it again since the other day when it was raining, I may try again using a peace of wire as I don't have a multimeter,
 
Had issues in fitting mine today, I cut both sides at the same time ( school boy error I know ) and trout I had cut enough off, then it started to **** down and was rushing trying to get them to fit in, anyways they don't sit flush on the wing.
View attachment 16126View attachment 16127
How much more do I need to cut off? I haven't cut anything of the bumper guide and tbh I took the bumper guide off to try and make more room when cutting, these lights are from a 2001 car if that makes a difference? I seem to have trouble doing everything lol, I couldn't get the adjuster in the clip either
 
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